Tell me about your Magic Items!

[madgael]

These are from the first batch I came up with. They were of course geared towards specific players in the company, who have now nearly all died or retired. Some were found, some weren't, but the bow is still the only one that is pretty much "in play" at the moment, so I suppose I better brainstorm more in case anyone rolls lucky on a hoard in the near future...

Aeglhing - "Web-piercer"
Type: Bow
Make: Elvish (Sindarin)
Bane: Spiders
1) Sure Shot
2) Bane: Foe Slaying
3) Bane: Biting Dart
This sturdy, reddish longbow is highly polished and intricately carved along its length into a lattice-work of interwoven tendrils and gossamer strands, resembling the intricate patterns of spider webs. The bowstring is still attached and is fashioned of some form of particularly strong silk.
The bow is made from a rare variety of rosewood, indigenous only to Southern Mirkwood.

Anguirel - "Iron of Eternity"
Type: Long sword
Make: Elvish (Beleriand)
Bane: The Enemy
1) Ancient Cunning Make
2) Bane: Raging -> Foe-slaying (I think this may have been a curse effect I was working on but it's a bit fuzzy now.)
3) Runes of Victory
This longsword is forged of a strange black metal. The smooth blade is exceedingly hard and sharp; yet the weapon is far lighter than it would appear given its prodigous size. While holding the sword, its bearer can sense a faint thrumming through the hilt.
Anguirel was forged by Eöl the Dark Elf in Beleriand before the awakening of the Sun and Moon. It was the mate of Anglachel, which was given to Thingol of Doriath (and which was later reforged and renamed Gurthang), was made of the same meteoritic iron, and had the same physical properties.
Anguirel was kept by Eöl until it was stolen by his son, Maeglin. It was lost to history at the Fall of Gondolin when Tuor repaid Maeglin's treachery by throwing him from the walls of the hidden city, fulfilling Eöl's curse.

"Axe"
Type: Axe Head (Longhafted)
Make: Númenorean
Bane: Trolls, Undead
1) Keen
2) Cleaving
3) Bane: Superior Fell
This bluish-green axe-head is compact and exceedingly sharp, with a pointed spike protruding from the poll. The faces of the axehead are inscribed with ancient runes.
This sword was forged in Westernesse of old during the Second Age. The inscription reads Kathuphazgân or "Conqueror" in Old Adûnaic.

HARSUDJÂN - "Flame of Hope"
Type: Spear
Make: Dwarvish (Khazad-dum)
Bane: n/a
1) Superior Grievous
2) Flame of Hope
3) Crushing
This is a barbed spearhead of dwarvish make. The metal is a reddish-orange color

Dulgizor Anadûni "Black Flame of the West"
Type: Sword (Serpent Scimitar)
Make: Númenorean (Adûnaic)
Bane: Serpents / Dragons
1) Cunning Make
2) Superior Keen
3) Bane: Foe-slaying
This exotic curved blade is forged of a gleaming steel, and its serrated arc is covered in ancient black runes and sigils depicting the foul sporting of various wyrms and drakes.
This sword was forged in Westernesse of old around the time of the Great Armament during the Second Age of Arda. The blade was evidently carried to Middle-Earth following the Downfall, and was formerly wielded by one of the Black Númenorean princes of Umbar, presumably being lost in the wars with Gondor prior to 1880 T.A. The runes are in Black Adûnaic and read Dulgizor Anadûni - "Black Flame of the West".

• I knew Anguirel was a stretch, but it tickled me, and they didn't really ever quite get how legendary it was. I almost did it more for my own enjoyment.

• The name "Axe" was based on a running joke about the Woodmen never giving each other their real names.

• I also had a half-finished mithril shirt write-up for the 1st character that retired, so I just never bothered to finish it.

[Timmity Took]

Good stuff, Madgael!
Banes are available for Khazad Dúm crafted wargear, as are both dwarven and elven qualities and even blessings

[Timmity Took]

Back to magic items...
How do you guys flavour the unlocking of latent magical qualities in your game?

A tough one for me is mithril armour.
You always have to start out with another quality as the first one, as mithril requires cunning make or ancient cunning make.
Isn't mithril light in itself to begin with?
I can spin it, but it would be cool to hear what other loremasters and players think and do...

[Majestic]

I haven't done anything that's Mithril, but I did give a magical corslet that only weighed a quarter of what it normally would. In this case I left the mechanical benefits as a mystery (until they were unlocked) and said that it felt "much lighter" than usual. I gave the player the specifics on how much less once it was discovered.


Dwarven-made Corslet of Mail
Constructed in ancient Nogrod (Ered Luin, the Blue Mountains) in the First Age

It was made for a small Dwarf, but will fit a Hobbit.

Enchanted Qualities
1) Rune-scored Armor
2) Ancient Close Fitting
3) Ancient Cunning Make

[Timmity Took]

I haven't done anything that's Mithril, but I did give a magical corslet that only weighed a quarter of what it normally would. In this case I left the mechanical benefits as a mystery (until they were unlocked) and said that it felt "much lighter" than usual. I gave the player the specifics on how much less once it was discovered.

Nice! I hadn't thought of that. It FEELS very light, but the encumbrance is still the same as it doesn't just count for weight in this game. Then they'll get used to it/unlock it and the encumbrance will drop, but it still felt as light even before that.
Very helpfull! Thanks

[Corvo]

Back to magic items...
How do you guys flavour the unlocking of latent magical qualities in your game?

A tough one for me is mithril armour.
You always have to start out with another quality as the first one, as mithril requires cunning make or ancient cunning make.
Isn't mithril light in itself to begin with?
I can spin it, but it would be cool to hear what other loremasters and players think and do...

In the past I used something like this to explain the late unlocking of an item's qualities:

The armour is of dwarfen make, but was looted by some Orc in the past. The creature added crude reinforcements to the armour, unaware that, far from strengthen it, he was just putting constrainment to the mail. Only now you realize that, cutting away those black rings, the armour becomes far more comfortable, and not a bit less strong.

[Scrollreader]

There is Gwendagnir, a Greatspear which is Dwarvenwrought and Superior Fell (Bane: Enemy). Made by the Noldor and the Dwarves of Moria in response to Sauron's forging of the One Ring. The wood elf who carries it has embraced the legacy, becoming an Enemy of Sauron.

There's the Black Corselet: Cunning Make, Mithral, Superior Close Fitting Coat of Mail. From the forge of Eol, the Dark Elf and cursed with his malice, the woodsman PC had to track down a survivor of Gondolin and hear the whole sad tale of Maeglin to remove the curse. (And then quoted the tale to Thranduil to win an argument).

The Golden Sword, made (and buried with) Malvegil, though fruitless in it's purpose against Angmar (Superior Fell, Superior Grievous; Bane: Evil Men & Undead), the Barding bearing the ancient longsword hopes it finds more use now.

There's a woman of Laketown who carries Modigleoht, the Bright Blade of Courage. Once made by the Dwarves, before dragon's hoard and Dragonslayer relocated it. She found it in the ruins of an ancient Leofring city. (Grievous, Crushing, Flame of Hope)

And of course, Wolfbiter. Reforged by Irime, Feanor's kin at great personal cost. No PC bears the Axe, which is a treasure of the Warleader of the Woodsmen, but with the Werewolf of Mirkwood on the attack, how much longer can such a weapon (Fell, Luminescent, Foeslaying; Bane: Wolves) be left to rust ...

[Fenton Hardy]

One of my players discovered Raug Dagnir, a Dwarf-made short sword forged at the end of the second age for an elf distraught at the loss of her husband. This graceful, thin short sword that has a slightly curved tip. Despite its slender, even delicate appearance, Raug Dagnir is of the highest quality and especially deadly and has the following qualities:
Superior Fell.
Superior Keen.

The sword is also cursed. In her grief, the owner committed unspeakable acts with the weapon and some of the corruption transferred to the blade itself. As long as the bearer carries Raug Dagnir, she has her Temporary Shadow score increased by 1. Any Shadow points acquired through misdeeds will be doubled. Only the efforts of skilled elven smiths may lift the curse. Those capable of such work can now be found only in Rivendell, Lorien, and the Grey Havens.

[farinal]

Millë i Rámaron (Is this correct Quenya for Ring of Wings?)

Type: Wonderous Artifact (Ring)

Craftsmanship: Elven (Eregion)

Blessings: Persuade, Courtesy.

Curse: Curse of Tyranny (Lure of Power) and Shadow Taint
The wearer starts to assume the worse flaw of the Lure of Power shadow weakness step by step with time starting with the first flaw and then progress all the way to the worst one. The ring foments a sense of overconfidence and arrogance within the bearer, causing him to belittle his companions and desire to dominate them.

Special Feature: Communion with Birds
The wearer of the ring starts hearing seemingly random discussions when he is out in the wilderness sometimes even when nobody is around. After a while the wearer can discover that he hears the chatter of the birds above. Once a day he can try to communicate with a bird (normal difficulty for a small bird, hard difficulty for a larger or smarter bird, very hard difficulty for an Eagle) in their own language even though he has no prior knowledge of the Birdspeech. Communication with regular birds such as crows or ravens does not require a corruption test but communnication with the Eagles (or Kingfisher Lord) requires a TN 16 Corruption test. If the wearer tries to achieve a magical result using the Ring to subjugate/persuade a bird to do his bidding it results in gaining a shadow point without a roll and if the wearer tries to subjugate an Eagle to his will it results in gaining three (possibly more depending on if there is an evil deed involved) shadow points without a roll.

History:
Ring of Wings is a silver ring with two emerald colored wings made of small jewel stones carved on it. It was forged in Eregion during the Second Age. It was created by the Elves when the art of Ringcraft was still at an early stage. It was forged as a Lesser Ring and never meant to be a Great Ring of Power. Elves had communication with animals in mind when crafting this Ring. It is said that some others were also crafted at this time intended for other kinds of animals but this ring was purely intended for communication with birds. Little did the Elves know of Sauron's malicious secret plans as Sauron always intended to use this Ring to dominate the minds of the Eagles and to rule over them. Due to the secret plans Sauron had for this ring and his touch during its creation, the Ring of Wings will always carry a taint of Shadow and cause the wearer to experience a desire similar to Sauron's to rule over men and beasts alike and especially over the Eagles. Ring was thought to be lost during the Sack of Eregion but it was simply buried under an Elven manor, waiting to be unearthed. In the Third Age, the Ring was found by a wandering treasure-hunter band and it was brought North to Bree. Soon after that the Ring caused a fight to erupt between the treasure-hunters as all of them wanted it for themselves and the leader of their company who was wearing the Ring started to fall into the Shadow with each passing day. After the big fight between the band members, the leader murdered the rest of his company and fled East over the Mountains, bringing the Ring to the Wilderland. After wandering around aimlessly for days around the Eastern slopes of the mountains he got lost in one of the many caverns and died of hunger in the deep tunnels. The Ring waited there patiently until a traveler upon the passes found it or a mountain goblin looted it... which set off the chain of events that brought it to the players in your campaign.

[Butterfingers]

I have a question about magic items, especially weapons & armour.... as an intro, we recently played the white deer episode in the DoM, and having successfully untangled the situation with the dwarves, the 'grateful' Ruithel sent the companions on a mission to recover a lost heirloom from the Refuge in the Mountains of Mirkwood. As reward they would be welcome to take anything else they could find there...

That was bit naughty from Ruithel (or me), although she did warn them to think carefully whether to go or not, they might not return, many have not. But I figure there's a bit wayward elf in her, and if the companions are lost there, they aren't around as witnesses to her humiliation in the hands of the dwarves, and if they do return with the heirloom, then that will compensate for the loss of face a bit. Win-win? I rolled this mission using the Wild Adventure rules, by the way. The Refuge was the closest location I could think of with potential elven loot lying around.

Anyways, now I am thinking of suitable loot to hand out to the companions, if they manage to get back from this very, very dangerous quest, and this thread is good stuff in addition to the starting point of lists in Rivendell. but looking at the weapons and armour, it occurs to me that these are extremely powerful items, and legendary to boot. So if the heroes do manage to find some, and get back alive, then what?

How would you modify the enemies in the current ready made adventures to make them a little tougher opponents? It seems to me there's a danger your regular orcs become too easy to defeat if the companions get their grubby paws on some of these? Is there a rule of thumb for such modificatin, say per magic weapon?